TAMARA UGOLINI ｜ Trudeau's policies fan flames and burn holes in the pockets of everyday Canadians
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Summary
Canada is on fire both literally and figuratively, and our dictator and Prime Minister is becoming more and more a political liability. As hundreds of thousands of people are displaced from their homes and told to evacuate due to the devastating wildfires ravaging the west coast of Canada, it s no wonder that Justin Trudeau s policies are causing so much destruction.
Transcript
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tonight canada is on fire both literally and figuratively and our dictator adjacent prime
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minister is becoming more and more of a political liability it's tuesday august the 22nd and i'm
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to mary ugolini guest hosting for you for the ezra levant show
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wildfires ravage the west coast of canada as hundreds of thousands of canadians are displaced
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from their homes and told to evacuate a similar tragedy happened in colonna british columbia in
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2003 where roughly 25 000 hectares of land was ravaged in may of 2016 fire engulfed fort mcmurray
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in northern alberta with nearly 600 000 hectares of land burned over the course of almost a month
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it was the most expensive natural disaster in canadian history and that's not to downplay the
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tragedy that wildfires cause hundreds of thousands of displaced canadians but if we fast track to
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today in 2023 the liberal government coupled with far left eco radicals would have you believe that
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this is the result of the climate crisis the latest emergency that we should all be afraid very afraid
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of and prepared to acquiesce to behold the climate emergency it's a mode of wording that's used
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intentionally to ensure that you take the issue seriously and that seriousness means that the
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government must force you to act quickly in demanding this action which thanks to the justin trudeau
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liberals it means that we must all pay excessive taxes to ensure that the once hidden social costs of
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carbon emissions become front and center through the carbon tax creating a ripple effect that acts as
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a deterrent and a barrier to doing well just about anything including eating and heating your home
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see the luxury of simply being able to afford to put gas in your car to get to and from work or
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heat your home with reliable fossil fuels or of course afford the very groceries that are needed
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to or of course afford groceries that need to be transported across our vast country for stocking
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is becoming out of reach for canadians who emphasize how unbearable the cost of living and the crisis has
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become in recent years with viral tiktoks and other short clips posted on various social media platforms
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they depict the breadth of disparity felt by those just starting out to those who need to feed and
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clothe their children and of course seniors are not exempt from this tax either the accounts are heartbreaking
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so i live in ontario and i need someone to tell me the pros and cons of living in america because at
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this point canada just ain't it it's just like not it anymore like the the cost of living
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it's just it's too much the wages are staying the same i can't afford to move out i'm 24 and i'm
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embarrassed that i can't move out i can't so what am i supposed to do where where am i supposed to go
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what are the pros and cons of living america and everyone's like oh canada's so great this and that
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it's not anymore free health care you know how long it takes to see a mental health professional
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in canada a year dermatologists a year i might as well pay for private health care
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the wait list is so long like you don't even get the adequate help that you need
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so where do we go at this point where where are we supposed to live where can i live
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in a place where i'm able to enjoy my life as well because i'm not enjoying it here i feel so utterly
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stuck i don't know what to do anymore you go to school you get a degree and you're still not
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guaranteed a job 60k a year that used to be like a decent amount of money not anymore
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so where do we go what are the pros and cons of living in america
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because i need to get out of here as trudeau's policies metaphorically burn canadians causing
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grotesque fallout and devastation in their midst the one that becomes a clear example of catastrophe
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is none other than bill c18 otherwise known as the online news act which is legislation
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that has caused social media giant meta which owns facebook and instagram to block a wide range of
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news links on their platforms it effectively ceases canadians ability to access any and all news on
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their platforms the liberals chose to ignore the key concerns around this piece of heavy-handed
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legislation like that raised by google which includes an extremely broad definition of eligible news
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businesses an unprecedented influence of the news by the regulators responsible for enforcing this act
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which is the canadian radio television and telecommunications corporation i.e the crtc and google even went so far
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as to say that this act would break google search for everyone not just canadians they say that the link tax
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would fundamentally break the way search and the internet as a whole have always worked internet oligarch
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google was keen on working with the government to get this legislation right but instead the liberals
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repeatedly cut off debate in order to ram through bill c18 before the summer break and while it hasn't
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been officially enacted yet it will be any day instead of repealing this piece of legislation that was
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condemned as arbitrary and ambiguously worded trudeau shifted blame when he was questioned recently about the
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inability of canadians in fire engulfed regions to access timely and accurate news about the rapidly
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evolving situation local news is so important and the work that people are doing to share messages and
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keep people informed with safe up-to-date information is unbelievably essential to keeping canadians safe
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that's why and i'm going to make a comment on this it is so inconceivable that a company like facebook
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is choosing to put corporate profits ahead of ensuring that local news organizations can get up-to-date information
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to canadians and reach them where canadians spend a lot of their time online on social media on facebook
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facebook made billions of dollars in profits over the past years including off of canadians
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and we recently passed legislation that says facebook if you're going to be sharing
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news or work done by canadian journalists or local news you have to make sure they're compensated for
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it fairly well instead of making sure that local journalists are fairly paid for keeping canadians
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informed on things like wildfires facebook is blocking news from its sites
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in a larger picture that's bad for democracy because democracy depends on people being able to trust
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high quality journalism of all sorts of different perspectives and points of view but right now in
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an emergency situation where up-to-date local information is more important than ever
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facebook's putting corporate profits ahead of people's safety ahead of supporting quality local
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this is not the time for that this is the time uh for canadians to continue to pull together and be
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there for each other it's time for us to expect more from corporations like facebook that are making
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billions of dollars off of canadians the ability of trudeau to remain out of touch to his own failures
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is pretty amazing isn't it canadians and the public both deserve and need access to credible news
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the government's attempt to mandate payment from social media platforms that enable this access
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actually contradicts basic freedoms and hinders freedom of the press by way of media communications
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as it becomes increasingly apparent that the head of the liberal party of canada displays repeated
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leadership ineptitude canadians watch painstakingly in embarrassment at trudeau's two-faced responses
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which came to light most recently when he was questioned about becoming more of a political liability than a capable leader
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and just this is unrelated but this past weekend i was camping with my family and um
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there was a vehicle that was a part of our uh it was our neighbors basically and it had a bumper sticker
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on it with your name and an expletive um which i had to explain to my children um given that you're
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trying to do something that has rarely been achieved in canada in history a fourth mandate
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have you considered the possibility that you have become a liability
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ever since the pandemic um in particular we've seen uh an increase in polarization and frustration
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and anxiety and mental health pressures on a whole lot of people right across the country nobody has been
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unaffected by that and part of uh the challenge we have politically is that we are seeing uh deeper
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but don't write off canadians just because they choose to wave a nasty flag
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don't write off a neighbor who chooses to put a bumper sticker that unfortunately you then have to
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explain to your kids people are hurting out there and what we've seen every single time there's been an
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one of the most important is neighbors stepping up to help each other this is who canadians are
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we are a big optimistic diverse country with a diverse range of political views and it's one of our
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another one of our strengths is how we pull together when times are tough that's what we did during the
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pandemic that's what we do when we work together to invest in early childhood education
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that's what we do when we work with municipalities and provinces to build more housing
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that's what we do when we invest in our future all together
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now politics is never going to be a game of unanimous support
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it's about a whole bunch of thoughtful good people coming together to try and figure out the best way
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forward and yes there are people who are hurting there are people who are lashing out
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and we need to be there to reassure them that they're going to be able to succeed that their kids
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and their communities are going to be able to succeed even though the world is changing in very scary ways
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so i'm not giving up on anyone and i'm going to continue working hard every day to build that
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future that we all know canada can have we are the best country in the world let's keep making it better
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a mere two years ago trudeau was the king of segregation and discrimination campaigning in the
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2021 snap election on the wedge issue of covid vaccination status attempting to normalize medical
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apartheid for a two-tiered society based on one's personal medical choices remember this if you don't
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want to get vaccinated that's your choice but don't think you can get on a plane or a train beside vaccinated people
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and now is the time for people who are still resistant to getting vaccinated to realize that
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that choice which has consequences on putting our kids at risk which has consequences at having us risk
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more lockdowns because they haven't chosen to get vaccinated yet that there will be consequences for
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those people in not being able to go to a gym or a restaurant not being able to go to a movie theater
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not being able to get on a train or a plane i want to stand up for the choice of those who are there for
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their neighbors not those who are risking us all going into further lockdowns of slowing our economic
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with science with respect for human rights with the best way to move things forward i mean when
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erin o'toole talks about oh yes we need to unite people we need to bring people together
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he's talking about defending the rights of people who are anti-vax
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that's why we've been unequivocal if you want to get on a plane or a train in the coming months
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you're going to have to be fully vaccinated so families uh with their kids don't have to worry
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that someone is going to be put them in danger in the seat next to them or across the aisle
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now as canadians grapple with the destruction of the country that they once knew and loved chief
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segregationist thinks it's all sunny ways budgets will balance themselves don't you know but canadians are
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feeling and reeling from the effects of a blissfully unaware prime minister they're becoming increasingly
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aware of the socioeconomic and political landscape within the country and it's hitting them where it
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hurts their pocketbooks in a way that no longer can be evaded or brushed off as canada burns we need
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cooler heads to prevail don't go away we have a special guest up next
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now the guest for today's show is lawyer hatim kheer from the justice center for constitutional freedoms
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to discuss a recent supreme court of canada decision to not hear an appeal on behalf of ontario churches
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pastors and elders that tried to challenge charter infringing lockdown measures namely indoor and
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outdoor gathering restrictions in places of worship you see freedom of religion was a once
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constitutionally protected ground but not for the church of god in aylmer or the trinity bible chapel
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in waterloo who both faced hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of fines for simply upholding their
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right to worship during a devastatingly challenging time in 2020 and 2021 where people needed their
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community more than ever before while canada's highest court did not hear this particular appeal
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there are similar challenges coming out of manitoba and saskatchewan where it is hoped that national
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importance can be established so that the appeals can be heard on their constitutionally overstepping
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merits mr kheer thank you so much for joining me to discuss this case now if we could just quickly
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sort of flash back to the hysteria that engulfed society in 2020 with pandemic lockdown measures and of
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course mandates and and the gathering restrictions can you walk us through exactly what these churches
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pastors and elders were accused of being in violation of well people remember uh there were the waves
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of covid and the lockdowns followed that and so uh when this all initially happened uh back in march of
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2020 uh both of our clients uh churches complied uh but then when winter came around and another round of
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lockdowns begin uh which were particularly strict and uh the province went into a shutdown phase uh both
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churches decided that they couldn't in good conscience close their doors to their parishioners
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and so they continued to hold services uh the elmer church of god uh started holding outdoor services
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eventually um and the trinity bible chapel was holding indoor services but uh notably they had a uh
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under normal circumstances a capacity of 900 people in their hall uh and at times they were limited to
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having 10 people indoors uh so they went ahead with holding services uh they received police attention
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as a result of that charges were laid uh fines were made against them at one point uh trinity bible
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chapel's locks were changed on them so they were locked out of their own church uh and then as a result
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both churches brought a challenge to the uh the lockdown provisions and uh their their matters were joined and heard together
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and now here in the ontario court so kind of that that middle ground of courts justice pomeranance denied
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the church's challenge and upheld what is being called violations of freedom of conscience and freedom of
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religion what merits was this being appealed on to canada's highest court i'm reading that there was improper
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assessment uh misapplication of the legal test i think that that's in regards to the demonstrable
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justification of these measures etc etc can you elaborate a little bit there on where justice may have gone wrong
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well um your viewers may or may not know but uh when someone charges the government for infringing their rights
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first you have to show that the right was infringed uh and then the government has to justify the infringement
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uh and so we had arguments at both steps uh so in terms of the rights being infringed uh something that
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justice pomerantz did is uh she looked at the infringement to the freedom of religion and she
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found that there was one uh but then she decided that the other infringements uh to freedom of expression
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freedom of peaceful assembly uh freedom of association all of those could be quote subsumed under the
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heading of freedom of religion and so our argument was that doing that failed to properly capture
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the infringement that happened to uh our clients rights uh especially peaceful assembly these were
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gathering restrictions and to assemble it's a synonym basically it means to uh to gather together to
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assemble together and this is what their religious beliefs ask of them and so when we get to that next
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stage and looking at whether or not the government has justified what they've done uh the court doesn't
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get a full picture uh we argued if they're essentially just sweeping those other rights under the heading of
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religion alone uh and then with respect to the the justification that the government provided uh
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what was interesting in this case is it wasn't just our experts disagreeing with the government's
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experts one of the government's own experts uh an expert in infectious disease actually agreed with us
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that outdoor gatherings are basically safe and they're not justified from a public health perspective
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because it would be better to give people opportunities to gather outside so that they don't gather inside
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uh so despite that um the the court found that the government had experts that were
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uh able to speak to reasons for why they did what they did and in the word of justice pomerantz
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uh she she had she was not uh going to be an armchair epidemiologist and so she decided that
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because the government was able to show the advice that they were leaning on uh she had to defer to that
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and so she uh so she found that the infringements were justified uh we appealed that up to the court
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of appeal uh ultimately they they agreed with the lower court uh and so we took these two issues uh or
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tried to take them up to the supreme court and they have since refused to hear the arguments of these
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merits what at the end of the day what kind of implication does that have on constitutional freedoms
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freedoms like freedom of religion uh freedom to assemble to gather moving forward in canada
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well because the supreme court uh as you can imagine receives uh many thousands of requests to hear
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appeals uh there's a first stage where you have to seek leave to appeal and so the court refused that
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uh they don't give reasons for that uh and so it just sort of puts an end to this matter uh essentially
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what the court of appeal said is the final word here in ontario uh the same day the court of appeal
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denied leave to appeal uh coming out of bc from a very similar challenge churches facing lockdowns
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uh and so in both cases the the court of appeals decisions become the last word so in terms of our
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constitutional rights uh we're left with the findings of the the court of appeal affirming uh justice
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pomerance's decision uh which worrisomely may have the effect of eroding some of the strong protections
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that we're supposed to have in our uh constitutional analysis so for example uh the charter says that
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infringements have to be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society uh and early on you
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know if we're going back to the the very first court cases looking at this in the 80s and 90s the
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court took a very strong stance and emphasized that word demonstrable that the government has
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to lead evidence to show why what they did uh was necessary and why it infringed rights as little as
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possible uh but what we have coming out of this is that the government's own evidence seem to undermine
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their reasons for doing this and really the only standard that they were held to is that they had to
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show some experts that were able to provide an opinion uh supporting what the government did
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is there a concern here that the lines of the separation between state and and government and
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and the legislative assembly the the legal realm are being blurred um and that there needs to be
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more concrete separation between these uh levels of governance i don't think from this case i wouldn't
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go uh so far as to say that there was a blurring between these institutions um uh from our perspective
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there was a a failure for of the one to hold the other accountable um uh what we were obviously hoping
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for is that the the courts as guardians of the constitution uh which even their own decisions
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have described themselves as uh that they would uh put some scrutiny to the the way that the government
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enacted and really uh interrogate the measures that the government uh took so for example um going
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back to the example of trinity bible chapel it has a 900 uh person capacity in their hall uh they were
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limited to 10 people at times and there were points in the lockdowns where they were limited to 10
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but uh things like retail stores were able to have uh for example a 15 capacity well 15 of 900 is 135
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and so there there's a real uh absence of any sort of scrutiny as to why the government took such a
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strict approach to a constitutionally protected activity uh gathering at a church versus something
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that isn't constitutionally protected like uh going to the gym or going to the store as important as
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those may be it really highlights a lack of cohesivity of the rules and regulations and
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how um arbitrarily they were enforced or or how arbitrarily the regulations came into effect because
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as you know that just doesn't make sense from a logical perspective on how you could come up with
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one number for religious worship gathering and one number for people heading into costco um how can
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canadians you know how does this change how how does this how can this be counteracted to prevent it
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in the future if the highest most supreme court of canada won't even hear it uh just to go to the
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first part of uh your point there uh one of the most shocking examples for me uh looking through the
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regulations in detail was that uh as your viewers may remember there was a a point where you know someone
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horrifically uh attacked a family with a van in london uh ontario and the regulations specifically
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created an exemption for a vigil to be held for that event and i'm not criticizing holding the vigil but
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there's a real uh uh absurdity in the fact that they could create a a singled out exception for this
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one event uh when much smaller groups wanted to just gather in churches um in terms of uh what's next
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uh there is perhaps some uh solace in the fact that the the supreme court uh didn't hear this and
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and strike it down they just haven't heard it uh so we're left with the court of appeals decisions
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uh and so you know i hopefully we don't have to deal with this again but uh if similar things do happen
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in the future there there is an opportunity to still take it to canada's highest court and uh try to
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obtain a ruling that defends our constitutional rights and really uh puts the government to task
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in terms of justifying measures that they take that infringe those rights and just on that note
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because you know i i for lack of a better word conspiracies abound that this will happen again
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does something like this allow for a fast tracking into the supreme court i know you have to go through
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all these lower courts traditionally you have to go through all these lower courts first before you
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can get there um would something would another infringement similar to this allow for an expediency
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of a case like this if it were to be brought forward again uh no unfortunately not it still
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would have to uh take that slow climb up the ladder of courts to get to the supreme court uh there are
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provisions that allow for a direct appeal to the supreme court but they're they're really limited to
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uh a sort of extreme uh example that someone is is going to face some sort of an extreme
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consequence and has to get to the supreme court uh very quickly uh so yeah you know
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uh you hear it in the news you hear stirrings that uh similar lockdowns might happen in the future
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um hopefully they don't but if we do get to that point uh then challenges will just have to be brought
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and uh and work their way up through the system as well well thank you so much for joining me and i
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look forward to hearing more work out of the jccf uh that will come down the pipe in the future thank you for having me
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letters to ezra are next and all of these are in relation to the rebel team's recent investigation
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on the ground reporting in lahena the small hawaiian island the small hawaiian island of maui
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where we sent a team of three rebels including rebel commander ezra levant and of course video uh
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journalist lincoln jay and our quebec correspondent alexa lavoie to determine and decipher what was
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fact and what was fiction uh so if you want to find out more you can go to the truth about maui
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dot com and here we have some comments from some of our rebel viewers and bizay i hope i pronounced
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that correctly um says never donate to big institutions they eat over 90 percent of whatever
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you donate try to give it as directly as possible to who needs it now of course this is i believe a
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direct comment to our original fundraising efforts for the red cross uh to deliver relief efforts to
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the people affected by these wildfires devastating wildfires however once we heard the concerns of our
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our viewers once we landed on the ground and discovered the localized community-based efforts
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being exercised by the people on the ground there we switched gears and opted to instead uh throw to
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donation efforts of the people of lahaina directly their community-based relief funds we also started a
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gofundme campaign specifically for community members who needed some targeted outreach support uh
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and so i'm happy to report that we did reach that goal and i think even went above and beyond the the
00:29:52.280
final crowdfunding efforts to help assist people in those relief efforts and to rebuild the community
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that has been absolutely ravished by devastating wildfires nidus maximus says they used the excuse that
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people would run to the fire sirens could have had an intermittent plattern to identify threat very
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similar to fire ambulance and police that's a bs excuse the water guy should be dragged into a cell
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and locked up he was responsible for a percentage of death they need to be accountable absolutely
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accountability is is paramount here it's number one um and i too believe that it is a bit of a wishy-washy
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excuse and one of the interviewees that we have featured in the maui reports actually stated
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herself that it was very clear if the siren started to go off and you went to seek refuge of the
00:30:49.800
mountains because the alerts were specific to tsunamis um so that would have traditionally been
00:30:56.520
what would have happened if the siren started going off and the alerts were issued people would go
00:31:01.800
uphill into the mountains but um you would clearly see that there the hills are being ravaged by wildfires
00:31:09.880
and so why would you run up into the hills to be engulfed by flames it just doesn't make any sense people
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aren't that ignorant to continue to to run into a wildfire while the sirens are blaring i think it would
00:31:24.600
have become pretty evident very early on in these if the sirens were released and they were sounded
00:31:31.400
that uh another opting for another direction would be key to survival i don't think that would have been
00:31:38.040
difficult to decipher and understand the next comment comes from nick kata the really good thing was
00:31:44.920
president biden visited hawaii god bless him to that i say i suppose better late than never
00:31:53.320
that's been a wrap here on the ezra levant show and uh another rebel we'll see you same time and